I don't think that's the intention of local pronounciations at all. Locals grow up talking one way. It still strange and frankly wrong when someone pronounces it a different way. Eventually, you get used to it. But at first, it makes you tick a bit. I still cringe at the way other people pronounce New Orleans, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, etc. I never corrected them. (Well, I had to make Fowl stop. I live with him. I can't be cringing that much.) What it comes down to is local accents are not immoral. And we shouldn't judge why others pronounce things.

ETA: Have as much patience with local accents as you would expect locals to have with your accent.

Please, please call my mother and tell her how to pronounce New Orleans, she says New OR-lee-ons and I really hate to correct her, I just try to say it correctly soon afterward and hope she gets the hint, but it hasn't happened yet. And she's lived in this area her whole life.

For Lafayette, I can understand the confusion slightly for someone who has never been there since there is a Lafayette county in South Arkansas that is pronounced la-FAY-et.

Please, please call my mother and tell her how to pronounce New Orleans, she says New OR-lee-ons and I really hate to correct her, I just try to say it correctly soon afterward and hope she gets the hint, but it hasn't happened yet. And she's lived in this area her whole life.

Then I probably can't help you. Heck, my own husband still says it wrong. But he's probably deliberately screwing with me. But I still hit him when a "Lee" shows up anywhere. Maybe you could try that.

I have to deal with vendors from all over the country. The worst is Minnisota. (Apologies to our Minnisota snopesters.) bayTON Rewj. It took me a couple of times to figure out what this vendor rep was saying. She was probably thinking "Figures, I call Texas and no one speaks English."

Okay, I have to admit I am a little surprised to hear that pronunciation of "Iran" and "Iraq" can be indicative of political leanings. I am actually someone who pronounces "Iraq" a few ways, one of which is Eye-rack. I didn't know this was "wrong", and I have never, ever supported the war. It may be because I am from the Midwest and now live in Missouri, which itself has at least two common pronunciations, neither of which is "right" or "wrong" (Mi-ser-ee and Mi-ser-ah). A life-long local (or MU grad) is much more likely to say Mi-ser-ah, but neither is "wrong".

A little off-topic, but does anyone know who the last president to write his own speeches was?

I know from personal experience from back when I was in DC working for the government that Clinton would amend, change and rewrite speeches given to him - at least the minor announcement type thing we did with him. When he actually gave the speech it had changed a fair amount from his last draft as well.

I'm not sure that this wasn't the work of his writers, but I suspect presidents have a fair amount of input as to what goes into thier speeches and what's actualy said. I bet this is true of all of them, I'm not suggesting Clinton was special in this regard.

I have to deal with vendors from all over the country. The worst is Minnisota. (Apologies to our Minnisota snopesters.) bayTON Rewj. It took me a couple of times to figure out what this vendor rep was saying. She was probably thinking "Figures, I call Texas and no one speaks English."

To be fair, the bayTON Rewj part is an attempt to pronounce it the French way.

It's the "bay" rather than "bah" that would throw me off.

Minnesotans accents took me a bit of getting used to when we moved there when I was 12. Kids played taig instead of tag, and kept dags as pets. I met a bunch of boys named Deev, and couldn't figure out what it was short for until I heard someone say Deevid. None of their vowels sound right to my ear.

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Maybe not, but her voice makes me want to stab my ears out with a lead pencil. Anyone else react to her voice like nails on a chalkboard?

Yes. Hillary Clinton's accent has the same effect for me though. I hoped Obama would win the Democratic nomination for no better reason than the fact that his voice didn't grate on my ears.